Dozens of public New York City apartments lose cooking gas

Publish date: 2024-07-07

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Dozens of apartments at a public-housing complex in the Rockaways lost gas service last week — and officials at the hapless New York City Housing Authority say it could take up to two months to get it back.

Residents in 68 units of the Ocean Bay development in Arverne, Queens, were given single-pot hot plates to cook meals after a crew of diggers struck a gas pipe, officials said.

After a week of making do, tenants are frustrated and angry.

“I’m a diabetic. I have blood pressure, asthma and all that,” said Doris Terry, 69.

“It’s like, who’s got the money to go out every day to buy something to eat? I don’t, ’cause I’m on a fixed income. Cooking one thing at a time doesn’t cut it. A lot of people like me like their food hot. But what can we do? We can’t do nothing.”

The gas went off last Thursday and it will take until “late August” to get it restored, a ­NYCHA spokeswoman told The Post. She said the agency moved quickly to provide the hot plates and organized a meeting to keep residents informed.

The affected units house 126 people, officials said.

Residents said the agency should have acted years ago to replace the pipe that was accidentally ruptured last week.

“Somebody hit a gas pipe downstairs when they were shoveling the dirt, and I guess it was an old pipe that needed to be repaired,” one resident told The Post. “They said the pipe was so old, it should have been replaced a long time ago.

“We couldn’t turn on the gas at all. There’s nothing that we can do about it. We just have to use a f–king hot plate. It’s ridiculous.”

The NYCHA spokeswoman confirmed the “gas was affected during excavation on the grounds” and pinned the lengthy repair timeline on the need for additional inspections, possible asbestos removal and safety reviews.

A notice posted at the development apologized to residents for “the inconvenience.”

But for many residents, the loss of their stoves has been far more than inconvenient.

“We can’t eat anything unless we cook it in our microwave or toaster oven. So we’re very limited,” said Jennifer Grullon, 26. “I’m a diabetic, and most things that are microwavable aren’t ­really good for me.”

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